Meet the Artist - John Miller

I grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota and graduated from the University of Minnesota with bachelor degrees in Zoology and in Art.

I attended summer camps in Minnesota and Wisconsin in my youth and learned to love wilderness camping and exploration. Canoe and backpacking trips have become my most treasured recreational experiences and whenever possible these are my go-to va- cations. I’m convinced that we humans have evolved skills in reading the natural world and my art is my way to explore the idea. My art is shaped by my experiences out of doors and I’m constantly observing and reacting to patterns and signals as I navigate over water and along the trail. Much of what I want to know and understand stems from my making sense of the natural world and better understanding my reactions to it.

I have over 30 years of illustration and design experience doing work for business, non- profits, and State agencies and have been Artist in Residence at two National Parks: Acadia National Park in Maine, and Isle Royale National Park in Michigan, as well as in The Porcupine Mountains Wilderness Park in the Upper peninsula of Michigan. I’ve ex- hibited my artwork regionally and nationally. In my fine art I focus on natural spaces and natural phenomena with a particular interest in how what we see effects what we think, feel, and believe we know about the world around us.

Some Fun Questions:

How did you come to focus on your current subject?

Childhood experiences outdoors - primarily vacations and summer camps but also experience in a small section of woods near my home

Can you articulate what draws you to a particular composition?

This is the mystery that drives much of my art. I’m always intrigued by why something strikes me as special and most often it is places and spaces. It is the relationship between things that seems to spark my interest and I try to bring this into the arrangement of forms within my own compositions

Who or what has strongly influenced your work?

I think my first artistic influences were the newspaper comic strips. I loved the contrast between the black and white dailies and the full color Sunday strips. I saw in them a sort of magic where simple abstract shapes and graphic forms built worlds that could inspire me to see space within a two dimensional surface

If you could have one work of art in your home from a museum or private collection, what would it be?

I’d need a new home but probably Maruyama Okyo’s Two Geese Over a Beach housed in the Freer Gallery of Art. It’s so simple but so vast in ambience and space

Why did you decide to work in your chosen medium?

I change things up so I can challenge myself to grow and haven’t been making screen prints for all too long. I like Screen prints however because it’s a graphic medium and I’m forced to think in terms of flat shapes building to create something that can breath as though real space exists. It’s an awkward challenge and I frequently stumble and I guess this makes me push to learn in hopes of achieving mastery of the form.

What’s the most indispensable item in your studio?

Any ballpoint pen or pencil, I think by drawing and these simple tools are my way in to exploring the ideas I want to make concrete.

How do you know when a piece of work is finished?

There often seems to be a point where I realize any more and I’ll wreck it.

From where do you draw your inspiration?

My inspiration is always coming from outdoor experiences with nature and thinking about how I and we connect to the undeveloped. Beginning with the undeveloped natural world as a starting point strikes me as a beginning where all things are still possible. Moving farther away from this

can focus ideas in more specific ways but options become more limited. I want to avoid limiting my creative options.

What does your studio look like?

It’s small and a combination of messy and orderly. I make a mess of things in my wake but fully appreciate having a system for keeping track of the tools I need

Is there anything else you would like to share with us about your work?

Perhaps that print making involves a great deal of planning. You have to have a plan, even for being spontaneous. Despite the fact that my work requires that every move be planned I hope the pieces have a relaxed and fresh feel to them that inspires a sort of soothing comfort. One of the driving influences for me is that highly stimulating complex scenes cant also calm us. There is much in the natural world that emerges from organizing principles of physics creating complex patterns that are beyond our simple minds to take in and fully comprehend. Waves are a good example in that they have so much going involving a sort of visual chaos but sitting and watching waves roll in can calm and sooth.